Sunday Post

Sunday Post: Attraction

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Today I’m participating in Jakesprinter’s Sunday Post photo challenge. This week’s theme is Attraction. Remember you can click on each photo for a larger view.

As a tourist town, San Diego is full of attractions. My kids and I visited two of them this morning. We first went to the world famous San Diego Zoo. I love the elephant topiary welcoming you at the front. There is one elephant on each side of the San Diego Zoo sign.

Sunday Post: Attraction - Entrance of the world famous San Diego Zoo — Sunday Post: Attraction – Entrance of the world famous San Diego Zoo

We were planning to spend most of the morning at the zoo but with the unexpected rain, we shortened our visit. We saw many animals but probably one of the most famous attractions at the zoo are the giant pandas. The 9-month old baby was out with his mom, taking a nap in the trees.

Sunday Post: Attraction - Giant pandas at the San Diego Zoo — Sunday Post: Attraction – Giant pandas at the San Diego Zoo

Unfortunately the light was terrible to take pictures and this was the only angle available. So here’s baby panda – Xiao Liwu. It means Little Gift in Chinese.

Sunday Post: Attraction - Baby panda Xiao Liwu at the San Diego Zoo — Sunday Post: Attraction – Baby panda Xiao Liwu at the San Diego Zoo

His mom Bai Yun was taking a nap too.

Sunday Post: Attraction - Panda Bai Yun at the San Diego Zoo — Sunday Post: Attraction – Panda Bai Yun at the San Diego Zoo

She managed to display a couple of poses while I was taking my pictures. How nice!

Since the weather wasn’t getting any better, we headed to the San Diego Natural History Museum, a five-minute walk from the zoo. Here’s what welcomes you inside when you enter the museum from the Balboa Park fountain entrance.

Sunday Post: Attraction - Dinosaurs at the San Diego Natural History Museum — Sunday Post: Attraction – Dinosaurs at the San Diego Natural History Museum

The San Diego Natural History Museum is currently displaying the amazing Dino Jaws exhibit, which demonstrates the feeding habits of various dinosaurs. There are about 10 robotic full-size dinosaurs on display throughout the exhibit, including this Baryonyx trying to catch a fish. I love the shadow of the jaws and teeth on the back wall.

Sunday Post: Attraction - Dino Jaws at the San Diego Natural History Museum — Sunday Post: Attraction – Dino Jaws at the San Diego Natural History Museum

Of course, there are many other attractions in San Diego, but I hope you enjoyed this little sample.

May 5, 2013February 7, 2020 by Milka Pejovic Categories: Animal Photos, California Photos, Photography, Photos of San DiegoTags: baby panda Xiao Liwu, Bai Yun panda San Diego Zoo, Dino Jaws exhibit, Dino Jaws exhibit San Diego, photography, photos, San Diego, San Diego Natural History Museum, San Diego Zoo, San Diego Zoo giant pandas, Sunday Post, Sunday Post: Attraction 14 Comments

Sunday Post: Arrangement

Most of my photos have a nature theme and arrangement is not a main characteristic r of natural displays. I think randomness is what makes nature more attractive – it’s full of surprises. So I thought I’d try something different for this post by using the Russian nesting dolls my mom bought for me in Saint Petersburg a couple of years ago. What’s so special about them? There are 10 nesting dolls in all, quite a rare sight. The smallest one is the size of a grain of rice.

I worked on several arrangements for the photos below. It was a good math exercise and I think my favorite one is the spiral pattern. Can you think of way I could have arranged the Russian dolls not shown below?

Remember you can click on each photo for a larger view.

Sunday Post: Arrangement of Russian nesting dolls in line

Sunday Post: Arrangement of Russian nesting dolls in diagonal

Sunday Post: Arrangement of Russian nesting dolls in spiral

Sunday Post: Arrangement of Russian nesting dolls by pairs

Sunday Post: Arrangement of Russian nesting dolls in family portrait

March 10, 2013February 7, 2020 by Milka Pejovic Categories: PhotographyTags: 10 nesting dolls, 10 russian dolls, nesting dolls, photography, photos, russian dolls, russian nesting dolls, Sunday Post, Sunday Post: Arrangement, ten nesting dolls, ten russian dolls 8 Comments

Travel theme: Blue sky in San Diego and rising moon

Sunday Post: Focused Attention

Today I’m participating in Jakesprinter’s Sunday Post photo challenge. This week’s theme is Focused Attention.

If there’s one thing you need to have when taking photos of nature, it is focused attention. Paying attention to your surroundings is crucial if you want to spot and capture something that looks good to the eye. Sometimes, timing is important if you’re trying to take photos of animals, or even skies, which can change any minute. Focus is mostly needed when you’re taking photos up close, in macro mode.

I just received my brand new Canon Powershot SX500 IS a couple of days ago (it felt like Christmas all over again!), so I played with it a bit yesterday, trying to focus on the raindrops that are everywhere because of the rain. It was fun comparing the photos I took of raindrops on the same tree with my other camera. I’ll be doing a full post on these raindrops later this week, but here’s a preview of it. Focused attention can get you a nice shot of raindrops on a thuja tree branch.

Remember you can click on each photo so you can see it in a larger size.

Sunday Post: Focused Attention - raindrop on a tree branch — Sunday Post: Focused Attention – raindrop on a tree branch

You also need focused attention when trying to capture a moving body of water on camera. I did that recently and I still have to go through my photos to pick a select few. Here’s one that came out alright, I think. The sun was already over the hill and the whole aread being shaded gave the water a blue tint. A pretty neat effect.

Sunday Post: Focused Attention - stream water — Sunday Post: Focused Attention – stream water

That same day, I could see the moon high up in the sky in the late afternoon. I wanted to take a picture of it, but I knew it wouldn’t be a great photo if I had nothing else in the photo but the moon in broad daylight. So I looked around and found a way to add to the picture and give the moon some perspective. I’m pretty happy with the way the photo turned out. What do you think?

Sunday Post: Focused Attention - moon in bright blue sky — Sunday Post: Focused Attention – moon in bright blue sky

That’s all I have for this theme of focused attention. I hope you enjoyed it!

January 27, 2013February 7, 2020 by Milka Pejovic Categories: California Photos, Landscape Photos, Photography, Photos of San Diego, Rock photos, Sky Photos, Tree Photos, Water photosTags: California pictures, moon in blue sky, moon in daylight, photographing moving water, photography, photos, rain drops on tree branch, raindrops on tree branch, running water, San Diego, stream water, Sunday Post, Sunday Post: Focused Attention 7 Comments

Sunday Post: Simplicity

Today I’m participating in Jakesprinter’s Sunday Post photo challenge. This week’s theme is Simplicity.

Yesterday was a beautiful winter day in San Diego. Not a cloud in the sky, slight breeze, unusually warm (75 degrees by the coast). Perfect for a visit at the San Diego Botanic Garden with my kids. You’d think January would offer few opportunities for taking photos of nature but I got to snap a few. I’ll share them in several posts and I thought I’d take the opportunity of displaying a few here, with this simplicity theme.

Remember you can click on each photo for a larger view of it.

A pond with some running water exemplifies simplicity to me. And simple is beautiful, like this sculpture at the lily pond by the entrance of the San Diego Botanic Garden.

There’s also a Bamboo pond in the Bamboo Garden, which is about three times as big as this one, but still very small and simple.

Sunday Post: Simplicity - Bamboo pond at the San Diego Botanic Garden — Sunday Post: Simplicity – Bamboo pond at the San Diego Botanic Garden

It has a basic waterfall set up, again, very simple. A trickle of water over rocks.

There may have been some animals underwater but we didn’t spot any. Instead we spotted a couple of mallards, or technically a mallard couple having a snack in the pond. I love the simple ripples in the water.

Sunday Post: Simplicity - Ducks at the Bamboo pond at the San Diego Botanic Garden — Sunday Post: Simplicity – Ducks at the Bamboo pond at the San Diego Botanic Garden

Finally we were lucky enough to see a green heron, checking out the water and looking for some potential lunch. Again, I love the simple reflection of the green heron in the water. Simplicity, what a beautiful theme!

Sunday Post: Simplicity - Green heron at the San Diego Botanic Garden — Sunday Post: Simplicity – Green heron at the San Diego Botanic Garden

January 20, 2013February 7, 2020 by Milka Pejovic Categories: Animal Photos, Bird photos, California Photos, Photography, Photos of San Diego, Water photosTags: bamboo pond, California pictures, green heron, green heron photo, Jakesprinter’s Sunday Post photo challenge, lily pond, mallard duck, mallard photo, photography, photos, photos of water, San Diego, San Diego Botanic Garden, Sunday Post, Sunday Post: Simplicity 12 Comments

Sunday Post: Concept

I’d like to start this post by reminding you that the contest to win my 2013 photo calendar is still going on and it’s easy to participate. Make sure you don’t miss out!

Today I’m participating in Jakesprinter’s Sunday Post photo challenge. This week’s theme is Concept. It took me a while to figure out what type of photos I’d use for this challenge. But then, the idea simply showed itself to me. Yesterday morning, I took a look outside in my garden after I got downstairs and this is what I saw: very tight spider webs covered with the cold morning dew in about a dozen spots on my artificial turf.

Remember you can click on each image to view a larger view of these spider webs covered with tiny rain drops.

Sunday Post: Concept - raindrops in spider web on grass — Sunday Post: Concept – raindrops in spider web on grass

What’s interesting is, until that morning, we didn’t know the spider webs were there. The dew made them appear. Now you see it, now you don’t. What a concept!

Here’s what a spider web with tiny raindrops look like from up close.

Sunday Post: Concept - tiny raindrops on spider web on grass — Sunday Post: Concept – tiny raindrops on spider web on grass

Here’s another photo that shows you how well and tight the spider web was built.

Sunday Post: Concept - raindrops on spider webs, green grass background — Sunday Post: Concept – raindrops on spider webs, green grass background

I like the concept of mixing two natural elements, in this case a spider web and dew drops, to create an interesting subject. I also like the photographic concept of close-ups, so here are a few photos showing the tiny raindrops on these spider webs even better.

Sunday Post: Concept - close-up of raindrops on spider webs on green grass — Sunday Post: Concept – close-up of raindrops on spider webs on green grass

I hope you enjoyed these photos. Would you have guessed I can’t stand spiders? They really gross me out but they can create some masterpieces if you look closely.

By the way, if you like these photos of spiderwebs, take a look at another set of photos I took of a spiderweb with large raindrops over colorful river rocks here and here.

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